WFO Blacksburg - NOAA All Hazards Weather Radio Information

Weather information can be obtained by listening to NOAA Weather Radio. NOAA Weather Radio stations broadcast the latest weather information and are one of the primary means for receiving severe weather information and general forecast information. Weather radios can be purchased form local electronic supply dealers, and some scanners are equipped to pick up the weather radio frequencies.

Some models have an alarm feature. This feature sounds a tone and turns on the radio when we activate the tone alert from our office. We normally send the Routine Weekly Test message around noon on Wednesdays, unless severe weather is a possibility. The test is done at 7pm on the first Wednesday of each month. If there is a possibility of severe weather, we postpone the test until the next fair weather day, usually Thursday.

We activate the tone alert for the following watches or warnings.

Tornado watch
Tornado warning
Severe thunderstorm watch
Severe thunderstorm warning
Flash flood warning
Blizzard warning
Winter storm warning

Newer weather radios that are equipped with SAME (Specific Area Message Encoder) are available. This allows you to program your radio to receive the tone warning alert only for the counties you program! In addition, you can hear the latest forecasts and other weather information.

Generally, our NWR program consists of local forecast, local hourly weather, the regional weather summary, and the hazardous weather outlook.

Climate and river information is included in the program rotation at certain times of the day.

**NOAA Weather Radio Stations Operated from Blacksburg, VA**
Location	Call Letters	Frequency (mhz)
Hinton, WV	WXM-72	162.425
Roanoke, VA	WXL-60	162.475
Lynchburg, VA	WXL-92	162.550
Mount Jefferson, NC	WNG-588	162.500
Halifax/South Boston, VA	KJY-86	162.525
Wytheville, VA	WZ-2500	162.450
Richlands, VA	WZ-2543	162.425

WFO Blacksburg's Forecast Listening Areas

**NOAA Weather Radio Stations Just Outside Our Forecast Area**
Location	Call Letters	Frequency (mhz)	Responsible NWS Office
Beckley, WV	WXM-71	162.550	Charleston, WV
Bristol, TN	WXK-47	162.550	Morristown, TN
Winston-Salem, NC	WXL-42	162.400	Raleigh, NC
Covesville, VA	KZZ-28	162.450	Sterling, VA